The description relates to managing and automatically linking data objects in a scalable object oriented database system.
Conventional data entry systems have been realized as Web applications, such that a user is allowed to generate new objects by clicking on a link. Such a link may direct the user to a web page listing the types of objects that could be generated. The user would then select a link for the type of object and be taken to an editor for a newly generated, empty object. The user would then fill in the necessary information about the new object, including links to existing objects. Setting these links to existing objects often required extensive navigation to find the link target or looking through a long list of existing objects.
Custom applications built within Lotus Notes are similar at least in terms of defining a custom interface where new objects (“documents”) are generated, and sometimes linked to other documents. A discussion forum interface would be another example where a new object or a response is generated from and linked to a previously existing object, the previous message.